The greatest political issue President Bartlet must deal with in The West Wing Pilot episode is religion and the principle of separation of church and state. The issue arose when Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman, made an offensive remark to a Christian political figure on live TV. The situation boiled down to the President's decision to fire or not fire Josh.The President made the right choice by not firing Josh. Josh is a hard worker and reliable to President Bartlet, and Josh's own religious beliefs should not dictate whether he should keep his job. I appreciated how the President was Christian himself; for example, he named the first of the Ten Commandments correctly, yet he did not mix politics with religion. The issue of religion is not just a political issue for the President but a personal one too. The President told a Christian group at The White House that his granddaughter was harassed by a group named "The Lambs of God" after stating she was pro-choice in a magazine.
Very often, discussing religion with anyone can escalate into a problem. This was a great issue to President Bartlet, and he had to choose whether to please the Christian group and public, or defend those around him. He made the right decision in the end by keeping Josh and demanding the hateful group that went after his granddaughter to end. The President made a valid point when he told the group that any Christian group that operates with hate should be abolished since it goes against the Christian teachings of love and compassion.
You might think why religion is such a volatile issue in American politics. Why do members of the religious right get to dictate so much public policy? If we believe in the separation of church and state, maybe Josh should not have been invited to Mary Marsh's show, or maybe he should not have accepted the invitation.
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